![Professor Roland Bleiker](/sites/default/files/profiles/617.jpeg)
Overview
Background
Roland is Professor of International Relations and Coordinator of the Visual Politics Research Program. His research explores how images and emotions shape political phenomena, including humanitarianism, security, peacebuilding, protest movements and the conflict in Korea. Books include Visual Global Politics (Routledge, 2018); Aesthetics and World Politics (Palgrave, 2009/2012); Divided Korea: Toward a Culture of Reconciliation (University of Minnesota Press, 2005/2008) and Popular Dissent, Human Agency and Global Politics (CUP, 2000).
Roland’s main current research project is an interdisciplinary ARC Linkage collaboration (2022-2026) on The Politics and Ethics of Visualising Humanitarian Crises. The project involves eight researchers and the World Press Photo Foundation, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Australian Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières.
Roland grew up in Zürich, Switzerland, where he was educated and worked as a lawyer. He studied international relations in Paris, Seoul, Toronto, Vancouver and Canberra. Roland also worked for two years in a Swiss diplomatic mission in the Korean DMZ and held visiting affiliations at Harvard, Cambridge, Humboldt, Tampere, Yonsei and Pusan National University as well as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
Further informatin can be found on Roland''s personal website:
For an in-person or zoom appointment book here: https://calendly.com/bleiker
Selection of Recent Publications
“Decolonising Affect" Cooperation and Conflict (2024)
“Un-Disciplining the International” Alternatives: Local, Global, Political (2023)
"Visualizing International Relations” Journal of Visual Political Communication, 10,(2023
"Visual Violence" Interview with Brad Evans, Los Angeles Review of Books, 3 Jan 2022.
Availability
- Professor Roland Bleiker is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Arts, University of Toronto
- Masters (Coursework), The University of British Columbia
- Doctor of Philosophy, Australian National University
Research interests
-
International Relations: Visual Politics and Emotions
Theories of International Relations. How images and emotions shape political phenomena, including security, diplomacy and humanitarian crises.
-
Peace and Conflict Studies
Conflict resolution in societies divided by trauma. Transnational social movements and the conceptualisation of political change. Art and literature as sources of political transformation.
-
Politics and Security in Korea
Security and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula, including policy-relevant debates.
Research impacts
Much of my work has revolved around combining theory and practice. I embark on conceptual inquires to rethink entrenched political dillemas. At the moment my main practice-oriented reserach is a four year collaborative project on The Politics and Ethics of Visualising Humanitarian Crises. Funded through an ARC Linkage Grant (2022-2025) this project aims to draw on the power of images to transform practices and policies of aid. In particular, the project develops – and tests - alternative visual strategies that depict humanitarian crises in ways that encourage compassion for victims without entrenching problematic stereotypes. We work with four prominent Partner Organisations that are at the forefront of humanitarian and photojournalistic work: The World Press Photo Foundation, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Australian Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières. The project team consists of myself and five other Chief Investigators: A/Prof Emma Hutchison, from the School of Political Science and International Studies; Prof Matthew Hornsey and Dr Cassandra Chapman from the UQ Business School, as well as A/Prof Sana Nakata from the University of Melbourne and Prof Bina D’Costa from the Australian National University. Involved as well are two Partner Investigators: Prof Fiona Terry, Head of Research at the ICRC, and Prof David Campbell, formerly Director of Communication at World Press Photo and now with The VII Foundation.
Works
Search Professor Roland Bleiker’s works on UQ eSpace
2016
Book Chapter
Arts and theatre for peacebuilding
Premaratna, Nilanjana and Bleiker, Roland (2016). Arts and theatre for peacebuilding. The Palgrave Handbook of Disciplinary and Regional Approaches to Peace. (pp. 82-94) edited by Oliver P. Richmond, Sandra Pogodda and Jasmin Ramović. Hampshire, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-1-137-40761-0_7
2016
Journal Article
Visuality and creativity in global politics: in memory of Alex Danchev
Bleiker, Roland (2016). Visuality and creativity in global politics: in memory of Alex Danchev. New Perspectives, 24 (2), 13-22. doi: 10.1177/2336825x1602400202
2016
Journal Article
Radical dreaming: Indigenous art and cultural diplomacy
Butler, Sally and Bleiker, Roland (2016). Radical dreaming: Indigenous art and cultural diplomacy. International Political Sociology, 10 (1), 56-74. doi: 10.1093/ips/olv004
2015
Journal Article
Pluralist methods for visual global politics
Bleiker, Roland (2015). Pluralist methods for visual global politics. Millennium-Journal of International Studies, 43 (3), 872-890. doi: 10.1177/0305829815583084
2015
Book Chapter
Grief and the transformation of emotions after war
Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2015). Grief and the transformation of emotions after war. Emotions, politics and war. (pp. 210-221) edited by Linda Åhäll and Thomas Gregory. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge.
2015
Book Chapter
Popular culture and political identity
Duncombe, Constance and Bleiker, Roland (2015). Popular culture and political identity. Popular culture and world politics: theories, methods, pedagogies. (pp. 35-44) edited by Federica Caso and Caitlin Hamilton. Bristol, United Kingdom: E-International Relations.
2014
Journal Article
Theorizing emotions in world politics
Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2014). Theorizing emotions in world politics. International Theory, 6 (3), 491-514. doi: 10.1017/S1752971914000232
2014
Journal Article
Introduction: emotions and world politics
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2014). Introduction: emotions and world politics. International Theory, 6 (3), 490-491. doi: 10.1017/S1752971914000220
2014
Journal Article
North Korea in transition: politics, economy, and society
Bleiker, Roland (2014). North Korea in transition: politics, economy, and society. International Affairs, 90 (4), 1001-1002.
2014
Journal Article
De-bordering Korea: Tangible and Intangible Legacies of the Sunshine Policy
Bleiker, Roland (2014). De-bordering Korea: Tangible and Intangible Legacies of the Sunshine Policy. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 68 (2), 243-244. doi: 10.1080/10357718.2013.866188
2014
Book Chapter
Art, aesthetics and emotionality
Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2014). Art, aesthetics and emotionality. Gender matters in global politics: a feminist introduction to international relations. (pp. 349-360) edited by Laura J. Shepherd. London, United Kingdom: Taylor and Francis.
2014
Book Chapter
Visual assemblages: from causality to conditions of possibility
Bleiker, Roland (2014). Visual assemblages: from causality to conditions of possibility. Reassembling International Theory: Assemblage Thinking and International Relations. (pp. 75-81) edited by Michele Acuto and Simon Curtis. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9781137383969.0014
2014
Book Chapter
Can we move beyond conflict?
Bleiker, Roland (2014). Can we move beyond conflict?. Global politics: a new introduction. (pp. 564-589) edited by Jenny Edkins and Maja Zehfuss. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routedge.
2014
Book Chapter
Imaging catastrophe: the politics of representing humanitarian crises
Hutchison, Emma, Bleiker, Roland and Campbell, David (2014). Imaging catastrophe: the politics of representing humanitarian crises. Negotiating relief: the politics of humanitarian space. (pp. 47-58) edited by Michele Acuto. London, United Kingdom: Hurst & Co Publishers.
2014
Book Chapter
Performing political apologies
Wilson, Erin and Bleiker, Roland (2014). Performing political apologies. Memory and trauma in international relations: theory, cases, debates. (pp. 42-56) edited by Erica Resende and Doville Budryte. New York, NY, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315882659
2014
Journal Article
Visual cultures of inhospitality
Bleiker, Roland, Campbell, David and Hutchison, Emma (2014). Visual cultures of inhospitality. Peace Review, 26 (2), 192-200. doi: 10.1080/10402659.2014.906884
2014
Journal Article
Authenticity and deception in an age of visual wearables
Bleiker, Roland (2014). Authenticity and deception in an age of visual wearables. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 33 (2) 6824348, 26-27. doi: 10.1109/MTS.2014.2319895
2013
Journal Article
The Visual Dehumanisation of Refugees
Bleiker, Roland, Campbell, David, Hutchison, Emma and Nicholson, Xzarina (2013). The Visual Dehumanisation of Refugees. Australian Journal of Political Science, 48 (3), 398-416. doi: 10.1080/10361146.2013.840769
2013
Journal Article
Gedanken zur Entwicklung der sicherheitspolitischen Lage in Korea
Bleiker, Roland (2013). Gedanken zur Entwicklung der sicherheitspolitischen Lage in Korea. Allgemeine Schweizerische Militärzeitschrift, 178 (July), 18-20.
2013
Book Chapter
Representing HIV/AIDS in Africa: pluralist photography and local empowerment
Bleiker, Roland and Kay, Amy (2013). Representing HIV/AIDS in Africa: pluralist photography and local empowerment. HIV in world cultures: three decades of representations. (pp. 169-202) edited by Gustavo Subero. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315586939
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Roland Bleiker is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Available projects
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Picturing climate migration: critiquing the visual discourse
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Karen McNamara
-
Doctor Philosophy
Visualising Sri Lanka's Humanitarian Crises
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Emma Hutchison
-
Doctor Philosophy
Feeling Nation-States Examining the role of affect in the formation of Pakistan and its foreign policy
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Emma Hutchison
-
Doctor Philosophy
Climate change and security in France
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Matt McDonald
-
Master Philosophy
Self-Sacrifice and Intractable Conflict
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Morgan Brigg
Completed supervision
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
Photographic Resistance: Protest, the News, and the Viewer
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Emma Hutchison, Associate Professor Sebastian Kaempf
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Emotions and Political Violence: An (Auto-)ethnographic Account of the People's War in Nepal
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Morgan Brigg, Associate Professor Emma Hutchison
-
2022
Doctor Philosophy
Visualising India¿s Nuclear Tests: How Images Shape National Identity
Principal Advisor
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Ontological Security and Migration: Beyond Securitisation and Identity Politics
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Matt McDonald
-
2019
Doctor Philosophy
Liberal Militarisation: Visualising the Military Body as a Form of Governance
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sebastian Kaempf
-
2019
Doctor Philosophy
Mediation in international conflicts: the impartial, empowering and pressing mediator
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Andrew Phillips
-
2017
Doctor Philosophy
The Use of the Death Penalty for Drug Offences in Southeast Asia: Sovereignty, Deterrence, Retribution and Proportionality
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Melissa Curley
-
2015
Doctor Philosophy
Theatre for Peacebuilding: the role of arts in conflict transformation in South Asia
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Morgan Brigg
-
2013
Doctor Philosophy
Conspiracy Theory and American Foreign Policy
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Martin Weber
-
-
2008
Doctor Philosophy
From Dualism to Wholeness: Understanding Religion and Politics in the West
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Richard Devetak, Associate Professor Jacinta O'Hagan
-
2008
Doctor Philosophy
Trauma, Emotion, and the Construction of Community in World Politics
Principal Advisor
-
2007
Doctor Philosophy
THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHITENESS IN AUSTRALIA: DISCOURSES OF IMMIGRATION AND NATIONAL IDENTITY FROM THE WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY TO MULTICULTRALISM
Principal Advisor
-
2007
Doctor Philosophy
Between Movements of Crisis and Movements of Affluence: An analysis of the campaign against the Jabiluka uranium mine, 1997-2000.
Principal Advisor
-
2005
Doctor Philosophy
ASKING AFTER SELVES: KNOWLEDGE AND SETTLER-INDIGENOUS CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Principal Advisor
-
2003
Doctor Philosophy
Transformative peacebuilding in post-conflict reconstruction: The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Principal Advisor
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
Resurgent Histories of Afghanistan: Political Encounters with Modernity
Associate Advisor
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Affective Resistance: Feeling through everyday Palestinian struggle
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Emma Hutchison
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Local ownership, NGOs, and peacebuilding in Africa: A study of conflict-affected zones in Ghana
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Morgan Brigg
-
2019
Doctor Philosophy
Politics of Children's Rights: Development and Deprivation in Pakistan
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Heloise Weber
-
2015
Doctor Philosophy
Civil Society and Governance in Vietnam's One Party System
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Melissa Curley
-
2014
Doctor Philosophy
Representation, recognition and respect: foreign policy and the Iran-US relationship
Associate Advisor
-
-
2005
Doctor Philosophy
LEGITIMISING REJECTION: INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE LAW IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Associate Advisor
-
2003
Doctor Philosophy
JAPAN-AUSTRALIA - THE MAKINGS OF A SECURITY COMMUNITY
Associate Advisor
Media
Enquiries
Contact Professor Roland Bleiker directly for media enquiries about:
- Anti-globalisation critique
- International relations and security
- Korea - peace and security
- New social movements
- Peace and conflict issues
- Peace and conflict studies
- Peace and security in Korea
Need help?
For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team: